An alternative theory on how aspirin may thwart cancerU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Research NewsStudies abound that point to a role for plain old aspirin in keeping deadly cancers at bay. While aspirin is not yet part of mainstream treatment for any cancer, it is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for certain adults to help prevent colorectal cancer.

But researchers have puzzled over how exactly the "wonder drug" works to ward off cancer. Most think it has to do with the drug's inflammation–lowering effects.

Now VA scientists and colleagues in Texas have a new theory, tested successfully in mice and cell cultures. It has to do with aspirin's effects on platelets – blood cells that form clots to stop bleeding.

The findings appeared in the February 2017 issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Along with clotting, platelets also play a role in forming new blood vessels. That action is normally beneficial, such as when a new clot forms after a wound, and new vessels are needed to redirect blood flow. But the same action can help tumors grow. It's this process that aspirin can interrupt, say the researchers. Their lab tests showed how aspirin blocked the interaction between platelets and cancer cells by shutting down the enzyme COX–1, thereby curbing the number of circulating platelets and their level of activity. Some of the experiments used regular aspirin from a local drug store. In another phase, the researchers used a special preparation of aspirin combined with phosphatidylcholine, a type of lipid, or fat molecule. The molecule is a main ingredient in soy lecithin. The product, known as Aspirin–PC/PL2200, now in development by Houston–based PLx Pharma, Inc., is designed to ease the gastrointestinal risk associated with standard aspirin.

The enhanced aspirin complex was even stronger against cancer than the regular aspirin. Summarizing their findings, the researchers wrote: "These results suggest that aspirin's chemopreventive effects may be due, in part, to the drug blocking the proneoplastic action of platelets and they support the potential use of Aspirin–PC/PL2200 as an effective and safer chemopreventive agent for colorectal cancer and possibly other cancers."

Dr. Lenard Lichtenberger, who led the research, has a financial stake in PLx Pharma, the company developing the new lipid–based aspirin under the brand name Aspertec. None of the other authors reported potential conflicts of interest. Lichtenberger is a professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center.

The VA leader in the group was Dr. Vinod Vijayan, a research health scientist at the DeBakey VAMC and an expert in platelet biology. He is with the site's Center for Translational Research on Inflammatory Diseases. Vijayan is also an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

The group says they plan to test the lipid–aspirin complex for safety and efficacy in people at high risk for colorectal cancer in a collaboration with researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Meanwhile, they say their results so far "support the use of low–dose aspirin for chemoprevention." They add that Aspirin–PC/PL2200 has "similar chemopreventive actions to low–dose aspirin and may be more effective."

It is a violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to market and sell products that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, mitigate, or cure diseases without first demonstrating to the FDA that they are safe and effective for their labeled uses. The illegally sold products cited in the warning letters include a variety of product types, such as pills, topical creams, ointments, oils, drops, syrups, teas, and diagnostics (such as thermography devices). They include products marketed for use by humans or pets that make illegal, unproven claims regarding preventing, reversing or curing cancer, killing/inhibiting cancer cells or tumors, or other similar anti–cancer claims. See the list of illegally sold cancer treatments.

Background: The products are marketed and sold without FDA approval, most commonly on websites and social media platforms.

Recommendations: Consumers should not use these or similar unproven products because they may be unsafe and could prevent a person from seeking an appropriate and potentially life–saving cancer diagnosis or treatment. Avoid purchasing products marketed to treat cancer without any proof they will work. Patients should consult with their health care professional about proper prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program:

Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/reportDownload form or call 1–800–332–1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre–addressed form, or submit by fax to 1–800–FDA–0178.Additional Information:

esults736537 admissions managed by 18854 hospitalist physicians (median age 41) were recruited.Patients’ characteristics appeared to be similar across physician ages.After adjustment for characteristics of patients and physicians and hospital fixed effects (effectively comparing physicians within the same hospital), patients’ adjusted 30 day mortality rates were 10.8% for physicians aged <40 (95% confidence interval 10.7% to 10.9%), 11.1% for physicians aged 40-49 (11.0% to 11.3%), 11.3% for physicians aged 50-59 (11.1% to 11.5%), and 12.1% for physicians aged ?60 (11.6% to 12.5%).Among physicians with a high volume of patients, however, there exhibited no link between physician age and patient mortality.Readmissions did not differ with physician age.However, the costs of care were slightly higher among older physicians.Similar patterns were reported among general internists and in several sensitivity analyses.

HPV vaccine could drastically reduce cervical and other cancers globallyUniversity of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer CenterThe latest HPV vaccine could prevent most infections – and millions of cancers – worldwide, according to an article by Cosette Wheeler, PhD, and her collaborators.

The article describing the HPV vaccine and strategies to overcome issues with its use was published online by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Wheeler is an international HPV expert, a University of New Mexico Regents' Professor and a member of The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center. She and the other authors of the article served as expert panel members for the Primary Prevention of Cervical Cancer: ASCO Resource–Stratified Guideline.

The HPV vaccine could prevent up to 90 percent of HPV–related cancers worldwide, according to the article. The authors report that women in high–income countries or regions are far more likely to survive a cervical cancer diagnosis. But even within high–income countries, those women in lower–income regions get cervical cancer more frequently and fewer of them survive it. And, this disparity applies to other HPV–related cancers in women and men, including other genital cancers, anal cancers, and cancers of the mouth and throat.

The HPV vaccine can prevent HPV infection if the vaccine is given before exposure to any of the HPV types that the vaccine protects against. Different formulas of the HPV vaccine protect against different types of HPV. Only two types, HPV16 and HPV18, cause 70 percent or more of all invasive cervical cancers and all HPV vaccine formulas protect against these two. The nonavalent formula of the HPV vaccine is the most protective: it protects against HPV16, HPV18 and five other cancer–causing HPV types. As of June, 2017, only the nonavalent HPV vaccine is available in the United States.

Experts estimate that the nonavalent HPV vaccine could reduce HPV–related cancers worldwide by 90 percent or more if the entire global population received it. Several studies have shown the vaccine to be efficacious. Studies have also shown its benefits and its harms to be similar to many other vaccines that protect against infections.

Currently, though, global HPV vaccination rates are low. The vaccine must be given in two or three doses. This can prove difficult for teens and preteens who lack easy and affordable access to a clinic and who do not receive regular medical check–ups. The article suggests giving the HPV vaccine with other childhood vaccines as a critical strategy to lessen this burden. The article also cites studies that have shown two doses to be as protective as three doses if vaccination is started at a younger age. The United States Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices now recommends two doses of HPV vaccine for both boys and girls, but only if they receive their first HPV vaccine dose between ages 9 and 14. After a teen's fifteenth birthday, the Committee still recommends three HPV vaccine doses.

The article strongly recommends reaching out to parents, teachers, medical providers and other community members to encourage HPV vaccination among teens and preteens. Providers' support of using the HPV vaccine is linked to higher vaccination rates, the article states. The article goes on to say that providers' strong recommendation for HPV vaccination is therefore key to protecting global populations against HPV–related cancers.

"Cervical and other HPV–related cancers are preventable," says Wheeler. "We have the unprecedented opportunity to impact the global cancer burden and improve people's lives and health everywhere."

Researchers discover promising new anticancer strategyScripps Research Institute NewsScientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a compound that in laboratory tests irreversibly stops the growth of certain aggressive, treatment-resistant tumor cells. If successfully developed into a treatment, the compound would be the first of a new class of anticancer drugs.

In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the TSRI researchers showed that the new compound, FiVe1, blocks the growth of tumor cells that have undergone what researchers call the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process common in breast, colon, lung and other epithelial cell-derived tumors.

FiVe1 also blocks the growth of tumors called sarcomas, which originate from mesenchymal tissues including bone, fat, cartilage, muscle and blood vessels. The compound blocks mitosis by binding to a structural protein, vimentin, that is produced abundantly in mesenchymal-type cells. Drugs that work via this mechanism should spare many of the healthy, fast-dividing cells, such as hair follicle cells, that are harmed by standard chemotherapy drugs.

“We hope that this discovery is going to lead to the development of effective therapies against a broad range of aggressive cancers,” said principal investigator Luke Lairson, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry at TSRI.

One injection could kill cancerHealthline/Medical News TodayScientists experimenting with an innovative treatment for cancer have now devised a targeted injection that has already successfully eliminated tumors in mice.Research devising more effective treatments for all types of cancer has been abundant over the past few years, offering new hope all the time.Some of the most recent experiments include using state-of-the-art nanotechnology to hunt down microtumors, engineering microbes to thwart cancer cells, and starving malignant tumors to death.The latest study, from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, has investigated the potential of yet another approach: injecting "minute" amounts of two agents that stimulate the body's immune response directly into a malignant solid tumor.So far, their studies using mice have proven successful. "When we use these two agents together," explains senior study author Dr. Ronald Levy, "we see the elimination of tumors all over the body.""This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn't require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient's immune cells."Dr. Ronald LevyMoreover, the researchers have reason to believe in a speedier trajectory toward clinical trials for this method, since one of the agents involved has already been approved for use in human therapy, while the other is already under clinical trial for lymphoma treatment.The study's findings were published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.